Apr

23

2013

Meteor Falls over Argentina

Astronomy / Blog  Posted by / 0 comments

Early Sunday morning at 3.30am local time. A possible meteor fell over Argentina Sunday, 21st lighting up the sky for a couple of seconds. It is currently thought that the object is to be relatively small, around 20cm (or 8 inches). This compared to the one over Russia on February 15th, that was thought to be 17m (or 55 feet) in size is quite small.

But like the one is Russia it was caught on video.

One site that you could spend way too much time on is http://impact.ese.ic.ac.uk/ImpactEffects/. It allows you input size, density, speed, angle and what the meteor hits. Then giving calculations about what you would if you were standing a distance of your choice away from impact. And depending on how big, crater size, how much the earth would get moved of its axis, or is the Earth would actually exist anymore.

Sweet dreams :)

Apr

17

2013

Jumping into the world of GameCube.

Blog / Games  Posted by / 0 comments
First GameBoy and games.

First GameBoy and games.

A bit of back story first… My first real jump into gaming was getting a GameBoy Advance for Christmas of 2002, with the three games Shrek Hassle at the Castle, Jurassic Park III: Park Builder & The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Playing the hell out of the latter two (Remember not really liking the Shrek game, might try it out again sometime).

After what I think would be a year latter (Memory is a bit fuzzy around here). Dad was talking about getting a Playstation 2. But the thing is that I really wanted to get a GameCube at the time. Why? Because of the GBA connectivity, guess I was a pretty big sucker for exclusive content… And more or less still am. But, by that point I had the game Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and it always bugged me that there was one place that I could never get to unless I connected it the GameCube game. Long story short, that wasn’t enough to change Dad’s mind, so we got the PS2 that year.

Fast forward 10 years latter, and I started thinking about getting a Wii and with that I would also finally have my dream of having a GameCube at the same time, just with out all the fancy, gimmicky GBA connectivity that I apparently wanted oh so much. So with second hand ones being crazy cheap, (sometimes the controllers actually costing more!) I jumped on GumTree and found one. Picked it up and took it home, finding the GameCube controller ports but no memory card… I looked online, to find everyone saying the the newer black ones don’t work with GameCube games. So that dream died pretty quickly.

All set to build that collection.

All set to build that collection.

However, every now and then I would think ‘It’s a bit funny that it would have the controller ports if it couldn’t play the games and why would the Disk Chanel have an image of Wii and GameCube disks?’ until a couple months latter, now last week when cleaning out the TV cabinet I noticed another clip. Pulling that up, two GameCube memory card slots mocking me. Making me of course feel like the biggest idiot. (Turns out there are two version of the Black Wii, one with and one without)

So jumped on eBay, grabbing myself a 128mb memory card, probably way more than I’m ever going to need. And a controller.

Now it’s just time to start building my collection of games :)

Mar

11

2013

Blast to the Past: Meeting My Sponsor Child

Blast to the Past / Blog  Posted by / 0 comments
Myself and Mpamae Lampa

Myself and Mpamae Lampa

The other day while cleaning out my room, I stumbled upon the letter that my sponsor child  gave me when I met him while in Kenya way back in 2009. Part of the lead up for my trip to East Africa was to raise a modest amount of money in order to get a child in Kenya or Tanzania though their final year of high schooling, and then finally meet them and exchanging gifts and stories. Something that I’m never going to forget.

This is what Mpamae wrote in the letter he gave me that day.

Hello! Matty

First and foremost is the greeting from me. How are you as well as your family members? On my side I am okay under the protection of our almighty God.

I would like to thank you for sponsoring me, may God bless you as you go back to your country Australia.

We shall be communicating every now and then. In fact we have co-operate together to write you here at Kajiado Children’s Home in playing various game such as Basket Ball and Football where Kenyans defeated Australian in booth it was fantastic as we play together with you and it was a sign of love.

We have just closed our school and now vacation is about to begin, it would be a very long vacation with very many holidays, two of the being Christmas and Happy New Year.

Christmas is the day that all Christians all over the world celebrate to remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In this particular day my parents and I go to church to celebrate this day. Not forgetting to let you know my family members, I would like to to tell you that, I have one signle parent (mother), one brother and five sisters.

I always have a nice time with them on holidays and they are all proud of me because of my hard work at school.

Last year my mother bought me a goat because I was the first, in the exams that we did at school. I was very happy and I thanked her.

I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Yours sincerely Mpamae Lampa.

Really is a different way of life over there.

Mar

09

2013

My Week in Gaming | March 9th, 2013

My Week in Gaming  Posted by / 0 comments

In this weeks post, tragedy strikes, the trailer for Black Flag is out! and I play a free little indi game called 1916.

Assassin’s Creed – Tragedy Strikes!

It was a say day this Thursday, finally got around to putting Brotherhood into the 360 and all set to buckle down and finish it. To only get to the screen where you load your game, but to find 3 empty slots… It seemed my save has disappeared. The way I save things on the 360 is using a USB Stick, so that I can move between the lounge room and my bedroom when ever I need to, which work most of the time up until the game gets patch on the lounge room Xbox, making the saves not work on my bedroom one and being the old phat Xbox it doesn’t have wifi (to cheap to get one of those wifi adaptors). So either need to somehow work out a way to connect to the internets or see if I can save the update data to the USB. But sometimes (once before) this has made me lose my save for the game and it’s happened again. Did look on both of the 360’s HDDs and nothing, gone forever. Thus, ending my grand plan for finishing Brotherhood that day.

Am I ready for some more of this... Maybe, but probably not in this game.

Am I ready for some more of this… Maybe, but probably not in this game.

So now we come to yesterday [Friday], where I thought maybe I could just start the game again and try and get back up up to where I was. Ehh… I don’t know about that. At this point I think I’m done with Brotherhood and I really hope that doesn’t mean I’m done with Assassin’s Creed. Just that I really don’t feel like having to do all that again and maybe I’ll just have to read the Wiki and watch some sort of ‘Previously on Assassin’s Creed’ and start back up again in Revelations. I’ll think over it, but know at this point I really don’t feel like doing every I did in Brotherhood again.

In other news, there is now a trailer for Black Flag out, which does make me want to play the series in full.

 1916

1916 is made by a small group of 10 guys and is what they describe as ‘A First Person Avoider Game’. If you’ve played any Slender Man: The Eight Pages or Amnesia: The Dark Descent. But is a game set in the World War I trenches but the soldiers for Dinosaurs. I’ll let the developers set the tone.

Ready to survive.

Ready to survive.

In the light and thunder from the grenades of the First World War, a young soldier negotiates the wet trenches. He is alone yet through the thick haze of mustard gas he sees the shadows move. Ammunition has almost run out and fatigue is distorting his perception. The soldier tries to find a friendly soul in the river of blood and mud. This is when the real threat appears. A pack of dinosaurs break though the frontline.

Still have yet to find the way out… Assuming there is one. And when you finally find a dinosaur things sure do get pretty tense. As far as I can tell there is no way too kill them, on distracting them or running.

You can download the game free for MAC or PC or even just play it in your browser at http://1916.dadiugames.dk

Mar

02

2013

My Week in Gaming | March 2nd, 2013

My Week in Gaming  Posted by / 0 comments

Another week of games, unfortunately haven’t really had the chance to play too much over the week. Did manage to play a LOT of flOw over the week and a couple other small games that I kinda what to do there own thing for. There was a bit of Sleeping Dogs played and did finish my last play though with a pretty big story beat. Will plan on finishing that before saying too much more.

Do have a couple things planned over the week, with a feature on backwards compatibility in the new consoles and maybe even some indi games that I’ve been playing.

 flOw (PSP)

Really do just love the look of this game.

Really do just love the look of this game.

One game I didn’t expect to play at all this week. After all it started it’s life as flash game by Jenova Chenas a college project way back in 2006 (still can’t believe thats 7 years ago now). After which it got ported to the PS3 in 2007 and then the PSP in 2008, where I eventually picked it up. Mostly forgetting about it until now, 5 years latter. Why that too so long? I have a very good tendency i get a game, say ‘Can’t wait to play this one’ annnnd… not. Come to think of it I’ve Borderlands which I still have yet to even put into the Xbox… It’s a bit of a problem…

Anyway flOw! I have to say it’s pretty cool. One of those ‘games’ I’ve been enjoying laying in bed before going to sleep, a good way to just let everything flOw away. Ey! No… Okay :) So I should mention what flOw is, just incase because it’s weird! You take control of these sea animals, like a snake type thing and jellyfish being the first two. Unlocking more as you go deeper into the ocean. Oh and you also eat things, evolving your creature as you go. Not too much more to it, and I think thats why I like playing if before bed, that and the ambient music that plays in the background.

If you haven’t had the chance to check it out and don’t have a PS3 or PSP you can still play the flash game for free at http://interactive.usc.edu/projects/cloud/flowing/ and being free what have you got to lose.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

Arrrrrr... Yeah I had too... :P

Arrrrrr… Yeah sorry, I had too… :P

Assassin’s Creed is one of those franchises that I’ve always been meaning to play and playing them I am. It’s just taking me a very, VERY long time to do so. I’m still only around halfway though Brotherhood and up until this week only had 2 and half games to play until I’ve caught up with the series. But now at the end of this week, after a little promotional leek Ubisoft announced Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag… Thus making it 3 and half games to finish. And it looks like pirates and the Caribbean (that sure sounds oddly familiar). And as most people things pirate they would think pirate ships, guessing that means ship battles. Not sure wether thats a good thing or not, never actually playing them… YET!

Well hopefully by the time this game comes out I will have finished the third game and will be all set for the forth… Then again, thats what I was saying before the third came out.

Feb

26

2013

Times are a Changing

Blog  Posted by / 0 comments
The local video store.

The local video store.

About a week ago now, while on my usual trip into to the nearby town of Mooloolah to pick a few things I drove past the local video shop. Thinking I have been inside for maybe a year or two I decided to go inside to have a look, as they usually had a pretty good selection of ex-rental games and movies for sale. I remember walking in a kid (Mum used to take me there quite a bit) and being amazed, at the massive wall of PS2, Xbox and a sign of how long long ago Original Playstation games. Oh those where the days :) So I walk in and shocked to find that what I remembered to be a full stocked video rental place with huge wall of games, was virtuality half empty and the wall of games, almost nothing. Just a tiny little section on now PS3, 360 and Wii games and while sadly thinking to myself ‘these guys can’t have too much left in them.’

So many memories inside this store.

So many memories inside this store.

Fast forward to yesterday. I’m thinking maybe I might head back in, could have some pretty good deals going. I get in the car and drive over to find that they’ve now put up big ‘Closing down sale’ signs… Guess I spoke too soon, but it was inevitable that this was going to happen at some point. And a pretty good sign of where things are going. Already seen in America with the fight between Blockbuster and Netflix, or the book stores and Kindle. And with current consoles pushing their stores on to everyone and I bet even more so on the PS4 and what ever Microsoft has got in store for us. It’s only a matter of time for the game store.

I personally prefer to have to have a box. But thats mainly because I like the look of them all sitting on the shelf. Than again I have made the switch with music and in some sense movies. Only buying the physical copy for my most favorite albums or movies. For music that means getting the vinyl copy.

What is every else’s thoughts?

Feb

23

2013

My Week [The Year so far] in Gaming | February 23rd, 2013

My Week in Gaming  Posted by / 2 comments

Okay so first off I have to admit I’ve been very lazy with this site as of late, last post being a month and a half ago now and lets face it… Wasn’t really a post. So after thinking about what this little space on the internet is for. I’ve come with, it’s just a place that I write down what I’m thinking and maybe even get some rants or just anything off my chest. And also just talk about things I like, so traveling and since it’s kind of hard to be doing that all the time, I’ve found myself playing quite a few games. Meaning I’ve probably spend a little too much money over the past couple weeks because of that.

So here we go :)

Playstation 4

Not too long to wait.

Not too long to wait.

Couldn’t do a gaming post without talking about the maybe the biggest new of the week, the announcement of the PS4 Thursday just gone. And boy am I excited! With hopefully getting some brand new and shiny hardware to play with before the end of the year, how could you not be excited about that.

Know that I am. and GAMES!! so many games. Maybe the one I’m looking forward to the most is Watch Dogs. WOW! Does that game look good and sounds like it could be a pretty interesting game too, I know I’ll be picking up a copy of it. The other that caught my would be inFamous: Second Son or though haven’t had the chance to play the previous inFamous games… So maybe this will be a pretty good excuse to do just that.

Wii

Speaking of shinny new hardware… Well at least to me :) After nearly 7 years of bludging off friends, I finally got around to getting myself a Wii. Sure the Wii U is out… And I’ll probably also get that at some point (Most likely when the next Nintendo console comes out again), but for now they’re crazy cheap! A brand new controller at the shops can go for more than a used Wii. Crazy days! Actually kinda funny, this would be the first Nintendo console I’ve owned other than my Gameboy Advance which is somewhere at the moment, really should find that.

So any who, I bought the Wii secondhand coming with two controllers, with a Nunchuck and Motion Plus each and two games with it. Only thing wrong, is that with it being the newer black version of the box. Is that it turns out that the newer black ones can’t play GameCube games on it… Little bit annoying but guess thats my own fault for not looking into that one first. But aye, I guess I could always get a GameCube some other day, they’re not going away anytime soon.

Sadly one of those games I don't think I'll ever actually get to finish.

Sadly one of those games I don’t think I’ll ever actually get to finish.

Games! First up the games I got with the Wii, Wii Sports + Wii Resort & Donkey Kong Country Returns. Haven’t played too much of the sport games yet, mainly because I’ve already pretty much played more of those two games than I’ve needed before, being the two goto games for when you’ve got the mates over and want to Wii. As for Donkey Kong, turns out I’m pretty hopeless at those games. Just like in New Super Mario Bros Wii. unfortunately don’t think I’m ever going to be good at any of those games.

Also have got a couple over other games for the Wii since then. Mario Kart Wii, Pikmin, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess & Super Mario Galaxy. Super Mario Galaxy being the one that I’ve playing the most lately (and actually doing alright in it). Will add more about these games a latter date.

Playstation 3

Sleeping Dogs, one awesome looking game.

Sleeping Dogs, one awesome looking game.

And of course after starting with talk about the PS4 gotta finish up with talk about my time with the PS3 this month. And most, if not all of that time has been spent slowly making my way though Sleeping Dogs and what a game it is. The fact that I got it for free also helps, oh Playstation Plus, how much I love you! No idea how much I’ve got left to go, but have a feeling it might be a while. The game is taking some pretty interesting turns with the story, however kinda have a feeling how it might end… But don’t want to speak to soon, just incase I’m right and spoil the story for myself, or I’m completely wrong and make a fool of myself. Also pretty crazy playing this game and then thinking I used to live here in Hong Kong, mind you don’t remember anything from it, (It was 18 years ago and I was 2) but still, used to live there.

And of course Emma Stone!

Final Words

Hopefully I can keep this up, for the foreseeable future, unless you guys hate it. But than again, no ones really reading this are they? Let me know if you are :)

Who know, might start doing reviews or start blogging about other things that I’m into, like movies or music along with traveling. My favorite music to listen too while traveling or even better music I’ve found while traveling! Now there is an idea.

Thanks guys and until next week. Happy gaming :)

Jan

10

2013

10.01.2013 – Vegas.

North America / Photo of the Day / USA  Posted by / 0 comments

20130110-191745.jpg

Vegas. Really is in the middle of nowhere.